The X Gene
by AutocraticCat
Summary: OC Marie LeBeau had always been a small town girl with a pretty normal life. Being normal is overraated.
1. Chapter One

**AN: I know, I know, I changed the chapters again. I decided the characters chapter was dumb, so I've removed it. Chapter four WILL be up today.**

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New York City. The city that never sleeps. The city that can make or break you. It's about two am on an especially dreary day. Rain falls down on the city in sheets. A lone girl walks along the street, her figure standing out on the otherwise empty street as she passes under a streetlamp. She is wearing a long brown trench coat with the hood up, her hands shoved in the deep pockets. With her face hidden she is the shadow of a woman, the only light reflecting off her catches on a silver "X" belt buckle she wears. She keeps her head down; determined. She has a specific destination and she intends to get there. Suddenly she turns and faces a silver door at the side of a building. Wary, she opens it and slowly walks in.

When she walks in, she is greeted by a man she knows all too well. He's aged since he was an opponent of her parents, but he is no less dangerous. He appears to be an ordinary man except for the helmet that adorns his head. He smiles at her; a smile that seems to bear an underlying sense of malevolence.

"Magneto." She speaks in a southern drawl, but still manages to sound intimidating.

"I see you finally decided to join us." He says.

She scoffs, "Like I had a choice."

Magneto smiles softly and puts his hands behind his back, pacing lightly.

"My dear, we always have a choice," he says. "I'm just glad you made the right one."

She steps forward in anger. "A choice? Was there ever a doubt that I'd come Magneto? You show up out of nowhere throwing around threats. Oh sure Magneto, I'd love for you to brutally murder my family." She jeers. "Of course I came."

Magneto nods. "Well my dear, you're here now. Shall we get started?"

"Let's just get this over with." She says brusquely.

The girl walks forward and pulls off her hood to reveal her face. She has straight brown hair that falls just past her shoulders with a single white streak that frames the right side of her face. Her eyes are striking; completely black except for her iris's which are red.

"Ahh, there you are. Ms. Marie Lebeau. My my, you really are just the spitting image of your mother." He remarks. "Except for those eyes," he says, "those are definitely your father's."

She stares at him defiantly. "Are you done?"

He gives a sharp laugh. "And her feistiness too. Well Marie, you can tell her I say hello."

"Small talk Magneto?" She asks. "Is this why you brought me here or are we actually going to accomplish something at some point?"

He smirks. "Just trying to be polite. In any case, you're sure you can operate Cerebro?"

She thought for a moment. No, she'd never used it, but it couldn't be that hard could it?

"Think so." She answered. "Who am I looking for?"

"My daughter." He said. "I want you to find my daughter Wanda."


	2. Chapter Two

**AN: Next updated chapter. Read and enjoy. Review if you like. Also my laptop is being finicky and I think my apostrophes look funny. Maybe that's just me. **

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His daughter. He was looking for his daughter. To anyone else, this would be a simple case of a father missing his estranged child and looking for a reunion, but for Magneto… Marie wasn't sure he was even looking for Wanda. It was time, she decided, to test the waters.

"If I may be so bold," she began. "Why are you looking for her?"

Magneto raised an eyebrow at her. "You may not be so bold, Marie. That information is not up for discussion. Your job is to find her, and that is your only job. Is that clear?" He pronounced each word sharply, as though it were possible to cut her with them.

Marie sensed he was beginning to get restless, and his clenched jaw seemed to reinforce her theory. This was going to be too easy, she thought to herself. Looking up at Magneto, she smirked. "Crystal."

Magneto stepped towards the mediocre imitation of Cerebro and gestured towards the machine.

She looked at the machine. There was only one working mutant tracker, and that was housed in the Xavier institute. She didn't even want to begin to think of what this one would really do to her.

The growing pit in her stomach told her that she had better act fast. Magneto was a powerful mutant, and despite her training, if she couldn't get a glove off, there was no way she could win a one on one fight with Magneto.

She silently cursed herself for even showing up. She wasn't worried about her parents not being able to take out a couple Brotherhood members, they could handle themselves, but she had been curious to find out why Magneto had called her here.

She chewed her lip anxiously. She knew what she had to do; she just didn't like it. Walking towards Magneto and the machine, she shoved her hands into her pockets, removing the glove from her right hand. When she was standing next to him she quickly reached up and touched her bare hand to his face.

The rush of power that surged into her was staggering. Flashes of memories began to rush before her eyes but she pushed them into the back of her mind. She had to focus. She kept her hand on Magneto as long as she dared. She wanted Magneto out for a while, but she had to make sure she didn't put him in a coma… or worse.

When she let go, Magneto dropped to the floor. She looked at him guiltily, before turning and running out into the alley she had come from. The memories she had absorbed from Magneto suddenly began to over-ride her mental control. Panicking, she started running, fearful that one of Magneto's lackey's would be close by.

As she ran, she got spurts of reality before her world plunged into Magneto's memories. His mind was a mess, and she was so pumped with adrenaline she could barely make sense of any of it. It was all a jumble. Running blindly, she paused to catch her breath.

Standing in the dark alley, her eyes closed, Marie could hear someone else's breathing accompanying her ragged breaths. Her head pounded from the mass of information just shoved into it and she hunched over with her head in her hands.

She heard heavy footsteps coming towards her. Male. Then a tapping noise. Slightly.. metallic? Marie tried to focus. Standing up straight she tried to steady herself, and opened her eyes to the blurry world.

"This ain't a good part of town missy, you better run before something happens to you." The man laughed menacingly and Marie could faintly make out a large metal bat that he was tapping gently against his left hand.

"Nighty Night."

WHAM

Before she could react, the man had swung the bat at her, hard. Her head spun and the concrete seemed to rush up at her before she fell unceremoniously to the ground. As the world dimmed around her, she faintly heard a voice.

"Hey Bub. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl?"

SNIKT


	3. Chapter Three

Logan wandered down the street aimlessly, not completely sure where he was, nor where he was going. He'd been in New York for a few weeks now, but he still felt slightly out of his element after having been away for so long. He had left the Institute after Charles's death, but years later he found himself back in New York. The X-Men had kind of fallen apart after Charles died. People ha d gone their own ways, settled down, started families. Scott had tried to get everyone to keep the school going, but a lot of them left. Storm, Kitty, Bobby, Piotr, Rogue, Gambit, the list went on and on. Only Beast and Havok stayed with Scott at first. Eventually Scott had rounded up enough people to keep the school going, most of the former X-Men had now sent their kids; most, but not all. His thoughts then moved to Rogue, she'd been like a daughter to him. But no one even knew where she and Gumbo had run off to. He himself had revisited old homes, Japan, Canada; but he'd never stayed any one place for a long time. He suddenly looked around and realised where he was. Damn it, he was just asking for trouble around this area.

He cut down a side street and started to make his way back to his apartment when he swore he heard something. Pausing, he listened closely, using his heightened sense of hearing.

Footsteps. Light and quick. A woman running. He heard her ragged breaths. She was close by, and in trouble he presumed. He had half a mind to simply walk home, but damn that Xavier, he'd instilled this good conscience into him. Sighing, he ran towards the girl. As he reached the alley she was in, he saw that she wasn't alone, and just caught the man swinging a metal bat at her head.

He saw her fall and he cursed under his breath. Goddamn. She was just a kid. He called out to the attacker. "Hey Bub, didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl?"

SNIKT

In a second he had unsheathed his claws and pinned the man against the wall.

The man stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Well, didn't she?"

Logan could see the fear in the man's eyes. He stumbled over his words, unable to hold his composure. "I... I... listen man... if you want her… go right ahead... I-"

Logan cut him off with a quick head butt. "Shut up."

The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped to the ground unconscious.

Logan shifted his eyes to the girl on the ground, rolling her over with a nudge of his boot. He supposed he should at least take her to a youth hostel or something.

It was then that he noticed her bright yellow belt. The "X" symbol peaked his interest and he was suddenly curious as to who she was. Bending down to pick her up, he lifted her off the ground. As he did, her hood fell back and her white streak stood out like a sore thumb.

"Stripes...?" He murmured.

Picking her up, he carried her towards his apartment. Suddenly he was glad for the late hour. There were few people on the street and he was lucky enough that none of them looked twice as he carried the unconscious girl to his apartment.

Laying her down on his couch, he crossed the room to sit in a chair. Crossing his arms, he waited for her to wake up.


	4. Chapter Four

AN: I am SO sorry for the delay. My life has been off the wall. I was sick, then I went to Hillside Festival, and I've been job hunting like crazy. Special apology to Clembob who I told a new chapter would be up by the next day.  
However… I'm back! And hopefully going to get through a few more chapters and be posting somewhat regularly. I'm going to aim for one a week.

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Marie opened her eyes and sat straight up; a little too fast. She was overcome with dizziness and immediately fell back against the… soft cushions? Closing her eyes she tried to remember what had happened. Had she somehow made her way into the street after being hit? She was sure she hadn't.

She gingerly lifted her hand to her head feeling the large swelling that hand developed there. She winced when her fingers grazed it and she felt a small crusting of dried blood. Her mind immediately jumped as to how she was going to hide this from her parents. As if she wasn't already in enough trouble for sneaking off in the middle of the night. She cringed at the wrath that awaited her when, she paused, _if_ she got home.

It was then that Marie heard a soft cough and her eyes darted to the other side of the room. She wondered how she hadn't seen him before, or at least sensed him. She hoped it was her head injury impeding her abilities. They locked eyes for a moment and she saw his eyes widen slightly when they met her red on black ones.

The man stared at her from the chair opposite her and she briefly wondered what was going through his head. She quickly decided she didn't care.

"I don't know what you want, or what you think you're gonna get," she began, eyes narrowing, "cause sure as hell you got a lot more than you bargained for with me."

She glared at him, but he was unfazed. The corners of his lips slowly curled up and he laughed lightly, shaking his head.

"What's so funny?" She demanded.

He smiled genuinely. "You are kid," he said. "Remind me a lot of your mother."

Marie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How do you…?" She stopped, mid-sentence, her eyes widening in recognition. "Wolverine." She said simply.

She stared at him with the look of a young child who might have just met Santa. Since she was young, Marie's parents had told her stories of the X-Men; a group of mutants headed by a talented telepath by the name of Professor Xavier. She was enthralled by the tales of the bravery of these people. Her heart ached when Jean died, and she grinned wildly when Shadowcat and Collosus were finally married. She felt like she knew these people. She had a connection to them. To Marie, they were more than just characters in a story.

The Professor, Jean, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Shadowcat, Collosus, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler, and everyone else; they were like her family.

When her powers manifested, her parents had told her how they had been X-Men. Her eyes lit up as she recalled stories of Gambit and Rogue, of how they had struggled to overcome Rogue's mutation.

Suddenly it had all clicked.

She wondered how she hadn't thought of it before. How else could her parents have known so much?

Now, here she was, in front of another X-Man, one she herself had revered.

Said individual cocked an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"You gonna say something kid? Or did you get hit harder than I thought?"

"I'm sorry" she prattled, "It's just that I've heard a lot about you."

Wolverine gave a throaty chuckle. "It's fine. Your head okay?"

"Seems fine," she brushed the bump lightly. "A little sore, but I'll recover."

"So why are you in New York anyways?"

She froze. Try as she might, in that brief moment, she couldn't think of a lie quick enough.

Suddenly the words were tumbling out of her mouth. Of how Magneto had come to her, somehow under the impression she was a telepath; she of course, hadn't corrected him. She'd ached for an adventure, one like those of her parents, and so she'd snuck away in the middle of the night.

By the time she had finished, she felt as if she had talked for hours. She was now sat up on the couch with Wolverine next to her. He had given her a few feet of space, which she appreciated, and was staring intently at her.

"I'm sorry Wolverine. I really shouldn't have unloaded all of that on you."

Logan reached over and lightly placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Call me Logan."

Marie gave a small smile.

"Thanks… Logan" she finished. "I'm Marie."

He held out a hand. Marie tentatively placed her gloved one in his and shook it.

"Now comes the tricky part," he started. "You gotta call your parents."

Her face fell, but she knew it had to happen at some point. She sighed and braced herself for the wrath of her parents.

Logan pointed to the small kitchen at the other side of the room. "Phone's in there."

Picking herself up, she walked over to the phone and dialed.

This was not going to be a fun phone call.

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R&R

Also, feel free to let me know if there are any spelling/grammatical mistakes. I tend to type rather quickly.


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